Wednesday, December 30, 2009

So news has been spreading through the local blogasphere that there's a new farmers/ market in town. Well, sort of anyways. The Pinecrest Farmers' Market has moved locations from Gardeners to the Pinecrest Gardens.

Now, I never visited the original market, and I was in the mood to make some pasta primavera, complete with fresh veggies, so el hombre and I made our way over to check it out. This farmers market is nowhere near as large as the one in the Redlands, but I really liked that it was all local growers with their own produce. Additionally, even though Pinecrest is a higher income area, the prices on everything were very reasonable. And there was plenty to see. Multiple farmers were there, including Bee Heaven Farm, who runs a local CSA. Because of the season, there was plenty of squash, zucchini and eggplant, alongside avocados, tomatoes and mangos. All of which were freshly picked, brightly colored and extremely appetizing!

We also stumbled across other vendors, like one table that makes fresh pasta (didn't buy any because they didn't have the flavor I wanted), flowers, fudge and jewelry.

All in all, it's a stop for a Sunday afternoon. And you can go check out the gardens while you are there!(tea)(spices)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

To all of our readers, happy (belated) Chanukah, Solstice, Kwanzaa and Christmas!I will be headed up to NC to visit with family, but wanted to leave you all with these photos I took at the Santa Park in Coral Gables!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Remember that God-awful rain last week? You know, the rain that slammed South Florida for a few days and caused parts of the tri-county area to flood? So do I, because I had to drive in it and it wasn't fun. But I thought I would share this picture I snapped on the turnpike on the way to work. My friend and I, who carpool, commented how unusual it was to see such a vibrant rainbow, several days in a row. Now that her husband's car has been flooded out from that rain, I think I can safely say that I am fine never seeing a rainbow on the way to work again, if it means that the rains of doom will hit us like that again. But at least it should help our water table, no?

Regardless, this was such an intense site that people actually pulled off on the side of the road to take pictures.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

So in my journey to my new job, I have to drive north everyday. Now, I could pay homage to the Florida Turnpike, and the fact that it's TOTALLY worth paying the tolls to avoid traffic. I could preach that until the cows come in. Because ultimately, I abhor 95. I especially hate the cones. If you live in South Florida, you know what I am talking about. The cones divide the interstate for people who don't want to pay the tolls, and instead sit in horrendous traffic, and the people who either carpool, drive a hybrid, or deal with paying a toll that fluctuates based on traffic.

In addition to the fact that I have a real problem with the addition of tolls to 95, which has always been a freeway, I have a problem with the actual cones. Maybe it's because I wear glasses, maybe it's because I'm not used to them, but today I had to take 95 southbound, and driving at night next to the cones makes me really dizzy. It's actually really quite scary, because the light reflects off of them and it distracts me from driving.

Now for my soapbox rant that many have heard over the last few years. In my opinion, we would have been much better off putting the money towards constructing those lanes into making the metro rail a viable option to more people in Miami. If they would build a stop in Doral, North Miami, Miami Beach, West Kendall and Kendall, I think that would be a much better use of taxpayer money, more people would utilize public transportation and it would create jobs. If they went one step ahead and actually connected the Metrorail to the airport where you could connect to the Tri-rail, that would be even more phenomenal. Because one thing I have realized is that many people commute between the tricounty area for work. So why not invest into better public transit. This wouldn't even be as complex as someplace like New York. In actuality it would be very similar to a city like Atlanta. And if people regularly ride the MAARTA, (which I have been on, and it's not bad) they would do the same down here.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

So I have this bad habit of slouching at my desk. I don't really do it when I am standing or anything, but I suspect that being short and having a computer set-up that is usually just a bit too far away has caused that habit. Needless to say, because of this habit, which has been paired with innumerable amounts of stress over the past few years, has created what I like to refer to as, "the Chilean Alps" all the way down my shoulder blades in the form of very painful knots.

Yesterday I made the executive decision to treat myself. Afterall, I just got a new job, I'm trying to get into a decent weight lifting schedule again, and I can't deal with the pain anymore. So I decided to revisit this spa in the grove called Aruj. I went once in grad school and had a great experience, but when Miami Spa Month started coming up, I took that as excuses to try other spas. I do want to say, this time around it was a good experience as well.

First of all, Aruj is an Aveda spa. If you aren't familiar with Aveda, you should be. I have been going to Aveda salons since I was a teenager, and they have been organic and earth friendly before it was trendy. But if you are familiar with Aveda products, you know that their spas are a total experience. When you walk into Aruj, it's the store front. If you book spa services, they escort you into a back area with dimmed lights, running water and the unmistakable scent of Aveda products: A sweet (but not Bath and Body Works sweet) aroma of herbs and spices. They also have low, instrumental world music playing and as you wait, you really should take them up on their offer for some hot tea.

As with any spa-oriented massage, Aruj offers scented and unscented massages. Unlike some other spas, they also have heated beds AND they have therapists who are not afraid to do deep tissue. I despise going to spas and getting a light massage, and I am relieved to say that was not the case this time.

So in my opinion, if you are in need a massage and a relaxing experience, head over to the grove! And you can stop at RedBerry afterwards and get some delicious frozen yogurt afterwards!

Monday, December 7, 2009

So Art Basel has come and gone, and despite my crazy schedule this week, I managed to make it out to a party at the Delano and to Wynwood. All week my friends and el hombre have been hitting up the event, and I would have liked to have seen more, but alas, life gets in the way I guess.

The Delano party was neither here nor there. I mean, I love the Delano, and it was out by the pool, which I also love, but neither of us were really feeling the vibe so we left. (In case you were wondering, the Delano is my favorite hotel on South Beach for a number of reasons, and they have a fantastic pool area, so if you haven''t been, you should totally check it out)

On Saturday we took advantage of the fantastic cool weather and walked around Wynwood. The first thing I noticed was that there were nowhere near as many people coming through as there were last year. Even some of the regular gallery owners made that observation. Granted, last year was during the actual art walk, and we hadn't suffered through as much of the recession at that point. Unfortunately last year there were also several more pop-up galleries that I didn't see this time. Maybe they moved to the design district, or maybe they didn't come back at all

We saw alot of new graffiti and murals, some kickin' galleries, and some different things than we normally see on the art walks. We also found that some of the galleries, including one of my favorites, Praxis, kept the same exhibit from the previous art walk, which is both understandable and mildly disappointing. and of course I took pictures.

(I love Asian and Asian-inspired art, and still regret missing the Asia party they had)

I also really tend to like silhouettes, and this guy had several.... He is clearly Cuban, and had an awesome party that we wandered into when we probably weren't supposed to

(inscribed in this work, "I have seen every sunrise in my life")This gallery was one that stood out to me that the people working it were incredibly bored

These were all over Wynwood

Wall Murals: These are all from the same building

And these are from the Wynwood Walls project, which was fantastic! I hope this continues to be a regular thing

Then these are just murals I snapped as walking/driving by(They were selling ribs outside this one)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

So most people spend thanksgiving weekend eating, sleeping off turkey, possibly subjecting themselves to the horror of black Friday and watching football, right? Well, El Hombre and I didn't. We drove down to Key West on Thursday to spend thanksgiving at Fort Zach with friends, and then came back Friday afternoon. Somewhat random and useless information, I'm sure, but thanks to our friends, we discovered a new activity in Miami.... rock climbing.

Yes Miami does have an option for rock climbing, it's an indoor gym called X-treme rock climbing. I heard about this place a few times in grad school, but always forgot about it. It's in the warehouse district behind the Tamiami Airport and it's got pretty decent hours of operation. The place is a semi-open air area (which I imagine is awful in the summer) with padded floors and a pretty wide variety of climbing walls, from slanted forward, slanted back, straight up, and a variety of all sorts. It basically allows for a variety of rock climbing skill levels. Once you get the hang of what you are doing, you can follow paths on the walls, where different rocks are marked with different colors.

Going rock climbing was a ton of fun, but I do have to say, if you don't regularly do pushups, dips, etc, your arms will be sore (mine are still kind of sore) and if you don't do squats or lunges, your legs will probably be sore (thank god for bellydance and karate, cause those were my saving graces.) In addition, there was definitely an under 21 scene happening there, which is cool, at least they weren't outside doing smack in the parking lot, but at times they made me nervous when they were free climbing.

I definitely recommend going to this place if you are looking for something different and you like being active though! We plan to go back for sure. Until then, I am working on my pushups and dips....